4-12-2 "Union Pacific" Type Locomotives

In the mid 1920s many western railroads were using the 2-10-2 and 2-8-8-0
type locomotives for mainline freight trains. These locomotives were
getting the job done but were limited to about 20 mph. The Union Pacific
Railroad experimented with a three-cylinder 4-10-2 in 1925 and actually
bought ten of them. These 4-10-2 locomotives were capable of slightly
greater speed while being capable of pulling about 20% more tonnage.

The UP wanted more and approached the American Locomotive Company with
a design for a 4-12-2 and received the first of this new design in 1926.
The locomotive had more power and rode very well at higher speeds. With
the arrival of this new wheel arrangement, came the need for a new name.
The 4-12-2 was dubbed the 'Union Pacific' type and it namesake railroad
was the only North American railroad to use it.

The American Locomotive Company built eighty-eight of these fast freight
locomotives for the Union Pacific Railroad. They were three-cylinder
locomotives with the third cylinder located in the center of the steam
chest. The third cylinder drove an eccentric in the axle of the second
pair of drivers. The fourth set of drivers were flangeless, but it was
later determined that this was not necessary and a small flange was added
to these drivers.

Number of 4-12-2 "Union Pacific" Type Locomotives
Built by Year (by Richard Duley)

Railroad

Year

Totals

1926

1927

1928

1929

1930

UP

15

23

25

25

88

Totals:

15

23

25

25

88

4-12-2 "Union Pacific" Type Locomotive Details

UP 9000 Geometry

The UP 9000s had two outside 27"x32" cylinders driving the third set of drive
wheels and a third 27"x31" cylinder in the center driving the second axle.
The 9000s had 67 inch drivers. They were constructed with "blind" driver
tires on the third and fourth axles, that is, without the usual flanges,
in an effort to promote easy passage through tight curves. The blind
drivers were found to be unnecessary as tests of the first 4-12-2 proved
the usefulness of the lateral motion devices fitted to the first and sixth
driving axles. There was an attempt to see if they could negotiate the
Oregon Short Line in the Mountains of Oregon. The test failed and they
were returned to the prairies of Nebraska for which they were designed in
the first place.

There is an extremely accurately detailed model of
the UP 4-12-2 available for general viewing at the Schenectady Museum, in
Schenectady, NY. The model is in a section of the museum called the
Schenectady Heritage Area. The model provides an excellent view of the
lateral motion devices fitted to the first and last driving axles, spring
rigging, main and side rod designs, cylinder configurations, valve gear
arrangements, etc. The model is covered by a clear plexi-glass cover which
allows for viewing but no touching.

1st Axle Clearance Crank?

There has been some disagreement on whether or not the first drive axle
on this class of locomotives has a 'clearance crank'. The typical
configuration for a three-cylinder steam locomotives is to have a
cranked first axle so that clearance is provided to the connecting rod
that is connected to the second set of drive wheels. The Guide to
North American Steam Locomotives by George Drury states that the
first axle is cranked. I have also received e-mail which stated that
the first axle has a crank. However, I have been in contact with John E. Bush who was the co-author
of an excellent reference book on these locomotives (Volume 2 of The
Union Pacific Type by Kratville and Bush). This book has several
photos which show quite clearly that it does not have a 'clearance crank'
on the first axle. Instead, it explains, the builders added 18 inches to
the distance between the first two axle centers, thus precluding the need
for a 'clearance crank' on the first driving axle. This has been verified
by Barry Koeb who is the R&LHS member responsible for the UP 9000 who
has been inside the frame of the 9000. I am now convinced that the first
axle on this class of locomotives did not have a crank. The last time
I was in LA, I tried to look under 9000 and photograph the first axle.
However, the front of this locomotive is so tightly packed that I could
not see the front axle let alone photograph it.

In summary, the 9000's designers wanted to avoid having to put a crank in
the axle of driver number 1. So they did the following things:

They increased the distance between the #1 and #2 drivers by about 18" over the spacing between the other drivers.

They increased the distance between driver #1 and the cylinder saddle.

They raised the middle cylinder to about 9" above a line parallel to the two outside cylinders.

Driver "Quartering" and Valve Gear

The standard practice for two-cylinder steam locomotives is to "quarter"
the drivers. In other words, configure the main crank pins 90° apart
on either side of each axle. With a three-cylinder steam locomotive,
the main driver crank pins would be placed 120° apart provided that
each of the three cylinders was in a flat plane.

Because ALCO placed the center cylinder on the UP 9000s at an incline of
9½°, some have said that it would be necessary to set the crank
pins at 120°-129½°-110½° to preserve the torque
distribution and to keep the system balanced. This was not the case with the
9000s. The one inch shorter stroke of the center cylinder and valve event
(timing) dimensional settings allowed for the center cylinder inclination.

This assertion has been confirmed by Joe Davenport of UP's Mechanical
Department as well as by certain ALCO documents. Additionally, ALCO
had repeatedly referred to the use of 120° crank spacing in their
literature devoted to their effort toward sales of three-cylinder power.
Finally, a Union Pacific drawing, number 112CA27929, dated May 6, 1941,
titled "Axle--Key Location" confirmed the 120° spacing. The intention of
this drawing was to provide machinists with data permitting proper location
of the keyways necessary to affix driving wheel center castings to their
respective axles. Sure enough, all three pins are clearly displayed and
specifically noted as 120 degrees apart. Of course, only the 2nd main
axle actually had three pins since that is where the inside cylinder was
connected. Pins on the other five axles were also of necessity spaced at
120° and thus drawings for these engines can take your eyes a moment
to adjust to given the usual propensity for pin spacing at 90 degrees with
two-cylinder engines.

It is suspected that one of the reasons the Baldwin #60000 used a
90°-135°-135° configuration had to do with it being a
compound locomotive, with the center cylinder receiving high-pressure
boiler steam, and the outer cylinders receiving the low-pressure steam
from the center cylinder. And according to John Bush, the locomotive had
"a very interesting" outside valve gear design. The original valve gear
used a conjugated assembly that synthesized inner cylinder valve gear
motion from the outer valve gear on either side of the locomotive.

"Loping" Exhaust

Many have pointed out the "loping" exhaust rhythm one hears in recordings
of the 9000 class. The sound may be the result of a number of factors:

The center cylinder being located just below the exhaust jet means that its exhausted steam had a shorter distance to travel before hitting the stack, as opposed to the longer path the outer cylinder's exhaust had to move. So, it was likely that its exhaust 'beat' hit sooner, and louder.

The center cylinder stroke is one inch less than the outside cylinders, which could have resulted in slightly earlier exhaust sounds.

A lack of maintenance on the center cylinder might have lead to uneven bearing wear resulting in an uneven exhaust sound.

When released from shops with running gear trammed "to dimension" and valves
set correctly, a 9000 had a very even 1-2-3, 4-5-6 beat. All of the main
dimensions were the same for the outside and inside cylinders and valves
(except that the stroke of the inside cylinder was one inch shorter) and
when everything was right they were square like any engine, only with six
exhausts per revolution. It was frequently heard that one exhaust port
or another would cause a louder chug than the others, but the resulting
1-2-3,4-5-6 did not equate to being out of time or "out
of square". Like other power, wear and "lost motion" developed as miles
grew, and in particular, maintenance forces allowed attention to the inside
main rod to languish! If you've heard Howard Fogg's recordings of 9009
on his great album "The Big Steam" and think thats what a 4-12-2 regularly
sounded like please consider it as virtually totally unrepresentative of
their sound. When Howard made his recording, the 9009 was horribly out
of time. When badly out of dimension, engines can begin working against
themselves and 9009 was probably beating itself to death.

UP 9000 exhaust information graciously provided by John E. Bush.

Other Long, Rigid Wheelbase Steam Locomotives

The UP 9000s had the longest rigid wheelbase of all steam locomotives in
the United States. However, there were a few other countries with almost
equally impressive locomotives. Bulgaria and two groups of 2-12-4Ts,
Indonesia had a few 2-12-2Ts. Russia built one 4-14-4 (classified as a
2-7-2). It made one demonstration run during which it tore the track apart --
it was stored and later scrapped. It was designed shortly after a group
of thirty young Soviet engineers toured the USA in 1930 and 1931. They
saw the last of the Union Pacific 4-12-2s being built by Alco's Dunkirk
New York shop. Steam locomotive historians consider the Soviet 4-14-4
to be an example of the Russian's trying to outdo the Americanskiies.
The Russians learned many useful things during their tour, and did develop
a successful 2-10-2 freight engine and a 2-8-4 passenger locomotive using
ideas they picked up from Alco and Baldwin.